Afternoon publication plans to print only two issues a week

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MILWAUKEE — In a bid to offset slumping ad sales and rising costs, The Daily Telegram in Superior, Wis. said Thursday it would publish the majority of its 118-year-old paper on the Internet starting this fall.

The afternoon paper, which has a circulation of about 6,000, will print only two issues a week. That was down from six issues a week, and it wasn't clear yet which days those would be, said Ron Brochu, executive editor.

The rest of the time, the paper's Web site will become the primary source for daily news in the city in northern Wisconsin. Brochu said they will place more emphasis on getting news out faster to the site.

They'll also focus more on Wisconsin-area news to carve out a niche and better compete with the Duluth News Tribune, which is about 5 miles away. Both papers are owned by Forum Communications Co., a privately held company based in Fargo, N.D.

"It's a big change but on the other hand I don't think those of us in the industry have any choice but to go with the flow and as readers shift to the Internet, we've got to put more emphasis there ourself," Brochu said.

The changes are similar to ones implemented by The Capital Times in April. The Madison afternoon newspaper was the first in the struggling industry to switch to publishing mainly on the Internet.

The Daily Telegram's changes are expected to go into effect by the end of September.

The paper's 10 newsroom employees were told of the switch Thursday morning. The paper said many details were yet to be decided.